Method of play
The game is played between two players, each of whom has two rows of cards placed face down and two rows of cards placed face up on top of them. Thus each player has his 16 cards laid out in two rows of cards facing him, each row containing four pairs of cards, the top cards being face up. The players then play for 16 tricks. Players may agree to play with a trump suit (the game is then known as ''Suit''; German: ''Farbenspiel''), without a trump suit (''Grand'') or without any trumps at all (''Ramsch''). A ''Null'' game (''Nullspiel''), as in normal Skat, may be also possible depending on the rules.Dealing
Trumps
As in Skat, one of the four suits is nominated as the trump suit in addition to the jacks (French card pack) or '' Unters'' (German card pack). Alternatively the players can play ''Grand'' and only use the jacks/''Unters'' as trumps. As in ''Suit'' in Skat, the four jacks/''Unters'' are the highest trumps in the order: Clubs/Acorns, Spades/Leaves, Hearts and Diamonds/Bells. Then follow the Ace/Deuce, King, Queen/''Ober'', 9, 8 and 7 of the chosen trump suit. The trump suit sets the game value at 24 (Grand), 12 (acorns), 11 (leaves), 10 (hearts) or 9 (bells) points. There is also the option to choose ''Ramsch'' i.e. the winner is the player with the fewest points. Cards in the trump suit are ordered as follows: # Jack of Clubs / ''Unter'' of Acorns, J♣ or B♣ or U 10px, (German: ''Eichel Unter'') # Jack of Spades / ''Unter'' of Leaves, J♠ or B♠ or U 10px, (German:'' Grüner Unter'') # Jack of Hearts / ''Unter'' of Hearts, J♥ or B♥ or U 10px, (German:'' Roter Unter'') # Jack of Diamonds / ''Unter'' of Bells, J♦ or B♦ or U 10px, (German:'' Schellen Unter'') # Trump Ace / Deuce (''As / Daus'') # Trump Ten # Trump King (''König'') # Trump Queen / ''Ober'' # Trump Nine # Trump Eight # Trump Seven The Jack of Clubs/''Unter'' of Acorns is the highest-ranking card in a ''Suit'' game and is called in German ''der Alte'' ("the old man"). The non-trump suit cards are ranked A-10-K-Q-9-8-7 (or A-10-K-O-9-8-7 for the German pack respectively).Playing
Counting and scoring
The game ends when all 16 tricks have been taken; then both players add up their 'card points' from the cards they have won. The game is won by the player who has amassed the most card points. Because the total value of all the cards is 120 card points, a winning score is 61 or more card points. The cards have the same values as in Skat: 11, 10, 4, 3 and 2 points (Ace, 10, King, ''Ober'', ''Unter''), the cards 7, 8 and 9 do not count. If both players score 60 card points, then the player who did not choose trumps is the winner. The declarer receives 'game points' according to his win or loss. These are calculated as in normal Skat. First the number of matadors (''Spitzen'') is calculated. This is the either the number of Jacks or ''Unters'' held in unbroken sequence, beginning with the Jack of Clubs or ''Unter'' of Acorns or, alternatively, the number ''not held'' in unbroken sequence. The number of matadors plus one is then multiplied by the base value of the trump suit (Bells: 9, Hearts: 10, Leaves: 11, Acorns: 12 or Grand: 24). For example, if Bells are trumps and the declarer holds the ''Unters'' of Acorns, Leaves and Hearts, but not Bells, his score is (3+1) x 9 = 36. If his opponent has won less than 30 card points (i.e. he is "in the '' Schneider''") or even no card points at all (i.e. he is "black" or "''Schwarz''"), the declarer doubles or quadruples his game points accordingly (''Schneider'': double; ''Schwarz'': four times). If the declarer loses, he deducts twice the number of game points he would have won. Note that, as in Skat, game points are quite separate from card points; card points determine whether the declarer wins or loses, whereas game points determine how much is won or lost.Variations
Passing
If agreed, a game can also be played where players can 'pass' instead of choosing trumps. If the actual declarer passes, the dealer can choose trumps once both players have four cards, face up, before them. If both players pass, the game is played as ''Ramsch'', i.e. the aim is to get the lowest score.Harlequin Skat
The feature of Harlequin Skat is the fact that a player only sees half his own cards, but also half of his opponent's. His opponent cannot see any of those cards, but can see all the others. The advantages of harlequin skat are that you need less space to play it, and a greater tactical depth because you know your opponent's cards before they are seen. The same rules apply as in Officers' Skat. However, the cards are not distributed on the table, but held in the hand as follows: The cards are placed in a pile in the middle. Players now take turns drawing one card at a time. The first card is picked up normally. The second card is not viewed, but placed behind the other, so that it is only visible by the opponent. The third card is then picked up 'normally' again, the fourth is placed facing away behind the third, and so on. Players may say: "One to see, one to turn!" to help them remember this. The players pick up their first eight cards, of which they will hold four face up, normally; and the remaining four turned to face away and so only seen by their opponent. The starting player now calls trumps. Then the remaining cards are drawn in the same fashion, so that now both players see eight of their own cards and eight of their opponent's. When a card is played, the card facing the opponent may then be turned over. In addition, after each player has received eight cards (four face down, four open), the rest may be dealt as in a normal hand (face up to the player); this is called a 'half-open' (''halb-offenes'') game.Admirals' Skat
In Admirals' Skat, each player is given five cards face down, five face up and five in their hand. The remaining two cards are set aside as the skat or 'stock' (''Stock''). The trump suit and who plays first is then determined as usual in Skat with bidding. This variant is also called "with bidding" (''mit Reizen'').Name
According to Grupp (1975), the name Officers' Skat (''Offiziers-Skat'' ) came from the fact that "officers only socialised with the men when they were in the barracks, but not at the skat table, so often there was no third man." As a result, a variation of skat for two players was derived. The name Coachman's Skat (''Kutscherskat'') comes from the fact thatSee also
* Officers' SchafkopfReferences
Literature
* Hugo Kastner, Gerald Kador Folkvord: ''Die große Humboldtenzyklopädie der Kartenspiele.'' Humboldt, Baden-Baden 2005, p. 196,External links
{{Trick-taking card games Skat (card game) Two-player card games German deck card games Point-trick games